As a seat pad of this kind, there is, for example, Patent Reference 1. A seat of Patent Reference 1 divides a seat pad into a plurality of pieces of unit pads and mounts the respective unit pads attachably and detachably to and from a seating face of a seat main body. Each of the unit pads is constituted by a cushioning member and a skin covered from thereabove, a lower end of the skin is provided with a plurality of pieces of engaging members in a shape of a hook, and the unit pad is mounted thereto by hanging to fix the respective engaging members to engaging holes bored at predetermined portions on a seat surface.
Further, there is also Patent Reference 2 as a cushion pad mounted to a bed or a chair although not for a seat. The cushion pad having a sewn skin comprising one sheet of woven cloth having a single layer portion and a laminated layers portion in a shape of a hollow bag by hollow weave, and an elastic member is inserted into the hollow laminated layers portion. Further, a massage effect or a manual therapeutic effect is given to a user by a recessed and projected shape of a surface formed by aligning to form a plurality of pieces of the laminated layers portions.
Further, as a seat having a seat pad of an attachable and detachable type, there are Patent Reference 3 and Patent Reference 4. A seat of Patent Reference 3 is formed with a recessed portion of receiving a seat pad at a seating face of a seat main body, and a back face of the seat pad is formed by a shape matching with the recessed portion of the seat main body. Further, the seat pad is attachably and detachably mounted to the seat main body by fitting the seat pad to the recessed portion of the seat main body and engaging to attach the seat main body and the seat pad by a velvet fastener (face fastener). Although also a seat of Patent Reference 4 is formed with a recessed portion of receiving a seat pad at a seating face of a seat main body, a portion brought into contact with a bottom face of an inner peripheral wall of the recessed portion is formed with a side wall recessed portion, and a back face side of the seat pad is provided with a base plate. Further, the seat pad is attachably and detachably mounted to the seat main body by fitting a peripheral end portion of the base plate to the side wall recessed portion of the seat main body.
Patent Reference 1: JP-A-9-2399166
Patent Reference 2: JP-A-2000-342389
Patent Reference 3: JP-A-61-253011
Patent Reference 4: JP-A-2001-169850
According to Patent Reference 1, by constituting the seat pad by the plurality of pieces of divided unit pads, an efficient support can be carried out by fitting the seat pad precisely to a physical figure of a seated person. However, by constituting the seat pad by the plurality of pieces of independent unit members, the respective unit pads need to be respectively provided with engaging means in order to make the respective unit pads attachable and detachable to and from the seat main body. Thereby, productivity is poor and also an attaching and detaching operation thereof is complicated.
In contrast thereto, the cushion pad of Patent Reference 2 is formed as a single member joined with the plurality of pieces of elastic members by the single skin by sewing the skin via the hollow weave, and therefore, productivity or handling thereof is easy to achieve. However, the cushion pad of Patent Reference 2 is only aligned with the plurality of pieces of elastic members in a shape of a round bar for bringing about the massage effect or the manual therapeutic effect, and cannot provide an efficient support precisely matching with a physical figure of a person seated on the seat. Further, the cushion pad of Patent Reference 2 is not particularly provided with means for engaging with a mounting face, but is an object used by being simply mounted on a bed or a chair, and therefore, even when the cushion pad is applied to a seat, the cushion pad is easily shifted positionally by changing an attitude of the seated person or by an inertia gravitational force (G) thereof or the like, and a way of use thereof is poor.
Further, although according to the seat pads of Patent Reference 3 and Patent Reference 4, the seat pads are made to be able to be cleaned or interchanged by being made to be attachable and detachable to and from the seat main bodies, in both thereof, means for engaging with seat main bodies are provided at the back faces of the seat pads. Therefore, only one face (surface) of the seat pad always constitutes a seating face, and damage, or an aging deterioration thereof becomes remarkably significant in comparison with the other face (back face) by being exposed to direct sunlight or by receiving a load of the seated person.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a seat pad having a high productivity or a high degree of freedom of design by sewing a skin by hollow weave. Further, there is a need in the art for a seat pad facilitating attaching and detaching operation by forming the seat pad as a single member although the seat pad is divided into a plurality of pieces thereof. Further, there is a need in the art for a method of fabricating a seat pad capable of being fabricated efficiently. Further, there is a need in the art for a seat using a reversible seat pad capable of using both head and tail faces.
There is a seat pad as one aspect of the invention. The seat pad of the invention includes a skin including one sheet of woven cloth sewn by hollow weave and integrally continuously having a single layer portion and a laminated layers portion in a shape of a hollow bag, and a cushioning member enclosed at an inner portion of the laminated layers portion and having a shape the same as a shape of the laminated layers portion and having an elasticity, wherein the laminated layers portion is formed at a portion of the one sheet of woven cloth intended to support the physical body of a seated person, and wherein the cushioning member is provided with a predetermined thickness, and the laminated layers portion is formed with recesses and projections of the same shape projected from head and tail faces of the single layer portion by a predetermined amount, and mounted attachably and detachably to a seating face of a seat, and at a position of the seating face of the seat facing the laminated layers portion, a recessed portion constituting a shape the same as a shape of the laminated layers portion is formed, and the laminated layers portion is contained in the recessed portion of the seating face when the laminated layers portion is mounted to the seat.
The seating face of the seat in this case may be constituted by a total of the seating face of the seat or may be constituted by a portion thereof. That is, there is a case of only the seating face of the seat cushion or only the seating face of the seat back, and there is also a case of seating faces of both of the seat cushion and the seat back. The hollow weave is one of double weave fabricating methods mixed continuously with the laminating layers portion of laminating a head structure and a tail structure by respectively constituting head and tail warp and weft structures by plain weave in one sheet of an woven cloth, and a single layer portion constituting one structure by weaving the head and tail warp and weft structures. By weaving the single layer portion to surround the laminated layers portion, the laminated layers portion is constituted by the shape of the hollow bag. In other words, an outer periphery of the laminated layers portion in the space of the hollow bag is closed by the single layer portion.
A plurality of pieces of the laminated layers portions are formed in the skin including one sheet of the woven cloth respectively independently from each other. A thickness of the laminated layers portion is provided with a dimension twice as much as a depth of the recessed portion, and when the seat pad is mounted to the seat main body, although a rear face of the laminated layers portion and a bottom face of the recessed portion are brought into close contact with each other, a rear face of the single layer portion and a surface of the seat are not brought into close contact with each other. At least a portion of an outer peripheral edge of the seat pad is provided with an engaging member capable of being engaged with an engaging portion formed at the seat; and wherein the engaging member is provided at a center portion in a thickness direction of the seat pad. The engaging member is provided at a front end of a flexible fabric member extended from the outer peripheral edge of the seat pad. Here, the fabric member signifies a fiber product of a woven product, a knitted product or the like. Further, in the shape of the strip, there is a case of being prolonged laterally and there is also a case of prolonged vertically in a left and right direction. Further, the fabric member may integrally be extended from the seat pad, or may be bonded to the seat pad by seaming or adhering after having been molded as a member separate from the seat pad.
It is preferable that the fabric member is formed the single layer portion. Attaching means for making the seat pad in line with a shape of a surface of the seat when the seat pad is mounted to the seat is provided. The laminated layers portion is embedded with a core member for holding a shape thereof. That is, even the flexible seat pad having the elasticity is made to able to hold the shape in the constant recessed and projected state. Colors of a surface and a rear face of the laminated layers portion are made to differ from each other.
As other of the invention, there is a method of fabricating the seat pad. According to a method of fabricating a seat pad of the invention, a textile fabric integrally continuously having single layer portions and laminated layers portions in a shape of a hollow bag of the same patterns is sewn by hollow weave, wherein the laminated layers portion is formed by a portion and a shape of a physical body of a seated person intended to support, wherein an opening margin of a laminated layers structure for inserting to enclose a cushioning member at inside of the laminated layers portion is continuously bulged to form at a portion of an outer periphery of the laminated layers portion, wherein the textile fabric is made to constitute a skin including one sheet of woven cloth by cutting a portion of the single layer portion by a predetermined shape passing a middle of a bulged portion of the opening margin and surrounding the laminated layers portion at other portion thereof, and wherein the seat pad is provided by inserting the cushioning member to inside of the laminated layers portion from an opening of the laminated layers portion formed by the opening margin. The opening of the laminated layers portion is sealed by providing an engaging member engaged with an engaging portion formed at a seating face of a seat constituting an object of mounting at a portion of an outer peripheral edge of the skin including the opening margin.
As still other one of the invention, there is a seat using an attachable and detachable type seat pad. According to a seat of the invention, a seating face of a seat having a cushion and a seat back is attachably and detachably mounted with the seat pad having an elasticity, wherein the seat pad is sewn by hollow weave and includes one sheet of woven cloth integrally and continuously having a single layer portion and a laminated layers portion in a shape of a hollow bag, and a cushioning member enclosed at an inner portion of the laminated layers portion and having a shape the same as a shape of the laminated layers portion and having an elasticity, and a surface side and a rear face side of the seat pad are constituted by shapes constituting a face symmetry relative to a middle face of the seat pad, and wherein a recessed portion constituting a shape the same as a shape of the laminated layers portion is formed at a position of the seating face of the seat facing the laminated layers portion.
At least a portion of an outer peripheral edge of the seat pad is provided with an engaging member, wherein also the seat is provided with an engaging portion capable of engaging with the engaging member of the seat pad, wherein the engaging portion is formed by a strip member laminated to the seating face of the seat, both end portions in a longitudinal direction thereof being bonded to the seat, and wherein the seat pad and the seat are attachably and detachably engaged with each other by inserting the engaging member of the seat pad to between the seat main body and the strip member. A middle portion of the strip member is not bonded to the seat member and the middle portion constitutes an inserting hole in a horizontal direction formed by the strip member and the seat main body.
The engaging portions are provided at a plurality of portions, and the respective engaging portions are disposed at the lower face of the seat pad when the seat pad is mounted to the seat, and wherein the engaging members of the seat pad are provided by a number and at positions in correspondence with a number and positions of the engaging portions of the seat. In a direction of a plane of the seat pad, pairs of the respective engaging portions and the respective engaging members are arranged at positions diagonal to or positions opposed to at least other pair of the engaging portion and the engaging member. Further, there is also a case of being the diagonal position, at the same time, also being the opposed position. Therefore, when a certain pair of the engaging portion and the engaging member are disposed at positions diagonal to at least one of other pairs of the engaging portions and the engaging members, a relationship with other pair of the engaging portion and the engaging member is not particularly limited. For example, there is also a case in which pairs of a plurality of the engaging portions and engaging members having short dimensions are disposed at positions diagonal to one pair of the engaging portion and the engaging member having the same long dimension.
The engaging member is provided at a front end of a flexible fabric member extended from an outer peripheral edge of the seat pad, and wherein a width dimension in a left and right direction of the engaging member is at least larger than an interval between both bonded portions of the strip member. The seat is provided with attaching means capable of being attached to attaching means provided at the seat pad. The attaching means is a snap button, wherein the snap button of the seat pad is provided by way of a fabric member in a shape of a flexible strip extended from a center in a thickness direction of an outer peripheral face of the seat pad, and wherein the fabric member for the snap button is provided with a stretchability.
Further, there is also the engaging portion including a slit formed by notching the seating face of the seat in a shape of a groove along an outer shape of the seat pad. By inserting the engaging member of the seat pad to the slit of the seat, the seat pad and the seat main body are attachably and detachably engaged with each other. Also the seat in this case is provided with attaching means attachable to attaching means provided at the seat pad.
According to the seat pad of the invention, the skin is sewn by the hollow weave having the single layer portion and the laminated layers portion in the shape of a hollow bag, and therefore, a plurality of sheets of the skins can be provided from one sheet of the textile fabric by only sewing the plurality of the skin shapes of the same pattern continuously at one sheet of the textile fabric and cutting successively the skin shapes to a predetermined shape, and a productivity thereof is high.
At this occasion, by only pertinently designing the woven shape of the textile fabric, the laminated layers portion can be constituted by the portion and the shape of the physical body of the seated person intended to support and a degree of freedom of design is high. Further, the cushioning member may only be enclosed into the laminated layers portion in the hollow bag shape, and therefore, there is dispensed with a seaming step of separately preparing two sheets of skins respectively and laminating the skins to head and tail faces of the cushioning member and seaming outer peripheral portions thereof, and therefore, production is made to be remarkably simple. When the seat pad can be attached to and detach from the seat, cleaning or interchange of the seat pad is easy.
By forming the recesses and projections of the same shape projecting laminated layers portion from the head and tail faces of the single layer portion at the head and tail faces of the seat pad, a reversible structure capable of using the both head and tails faces of the seat pad as the seating face can be constituted. By the reversible structure, it is prevented that only one face of the seat pad is damaged or deteriorated at an early stage and long life of the seat pad can be achieved. At this occasion, the skin is sewn by the hollow weave, and therefore, the design performance of the head and tail of the seat pad can easily be made to differ from each other without carrying out printing at a later stage by making the head and tail structures of the double weave by different colors or the like.
When the recessed portion of the same shape is formed at a position of the seating face of the seat facing the laminated layers portion of the seat pad and the laminated layers portion is made to be able to be mounted to the recessed portion of the seating face, positioning of the seat pad is facilitated. A height difference is spontaneously produced at the surface of the seat pad by a difference between the constitutions of the single layer portion and the laminated layers portion, and therefore, by only adequately utilizing the difference, a portion of the body of the seated person intended to support and a portion thereof not intended to support can freely and easily be designed.
By forming a plurality of pieces of the laminated layers portions at inside of the skin including one sheet of the woven cloth respectively independently from each other, while dividedly arranging the plurality of pieces of pad portions to precisely support the physical body of the seated person, one member (seat pad) can be constituted and therefore, the productivity is high and a number of parts can be reduced. Further, also the engaging means to the seat main body may be formed as one member, and also thereby, the productivity is high and the operation of attaching to and detaching from the seat main body is facilitated.
When the thickness of the laminated layers portion is set to be twice as much as the depth of the recessed portion of the seating face, in a case of mounting the seat back to the seat, although the rear face of the laminated layers portion and the bottom face of the recessed portion are brought into close contact with each other, the rear face of the single layer portion and the surface of the seat are not brought into close contact with each other. Therefore, while restraining an amount of projecting the seat pad from the seating face of the seat, the laminated layers portion can precisely be brought into contact with only the portion of the physical body of the seated person intended to support. On the other hand, the single layer portion is recessed by the predetermined amount from the surface of the laminated layers portion, and therefore, a constant gap is formed between the single layer portion and the physical body of the seated person. By the gap, heat or the like in a case in which the seated person is seated for a long period of time can be restrained.
When the locking piece locked by the engaging portion of the seat main body is provided at the front end of the flexible fabric member in the shape of the strip, a degree of freedom of a positional relationship of providing the engaging portion and the locking piece is high, and an operation of engaging the seat pad with the seat main body is facilitated. Further, in comparison with a face fastener, also the fixed position is easily specified.
When the seat pad is embedded with the core member for holding the shape, even the seat pad which cannot maintain a predetermined deformed state by having the elasticity as it is can maintain to hold the constant recessed and projected shape. For example, even the shape along the recessed and projected shape of the seat main body can be maintained to hold the shape.
According to the method of fabricating the seat pad of the invention, when the opening margin is formed to bulge continuously at a portion of the outer periphery of the laminated layers portion and the single layer portion is cut by the predetermined shape passing the middle portion of the bulged portion of the opening margin and surrounding the laminated layers portion at other portion thereof, it is not necessary to provide an opening for inserting the cushioning member at inside of the laminated layers portion purposely after cutting the skin, and a production efficiency is excellent.
At this occasion, by providing the engaging member at a portion of the outer periphery of the skin including the opening margin, also the opening can be sealed. That is, time and labor of sealing the opening of the laminated layers portion purposely by seaming or the like after inserting the cushioning member can be dispensed with.
According to the seat of the invention, when the strip member is laminated on the seating face of the seat main body and the engaging member of the seat pad is inserted between the coupling portions of the engaging portion, that is, the inserting hole, the fabric member of the engaging member is penetrated through the inserting hole of the coupling portion, the locking piece of the engaging member is brought into contact and locked by the coupling portion of the strip member on a side opposed to the direction of inserting the fabric member, thereby, the engaging member can be engaged so as not to be detached unpreparedly from the engaging portion. When the engaging member is intended to detach from the engaging portion, the engaging member may be drawn to be detached from the inserting hole of the engaging portion by releasing the locking piece and the strip member from being locked by each other. In this way, by only drawing and inserting the engaging member from and to the inserting hole of the engaging portion, the both members can be released from being engaged with each other, and therefore, the seat pad can easily be fixed to mount to the seat main body attachably and detachably.
When the engaging member of the seat pad is formed at the position opposed to the strip member constituting the engaging portion, thereafter, the strip member, that is, the engaging portion of the seat is provided at a lower face region of the seat pad, when mounting the seat pad to the seat main body, the engaging portion is disposed at the rear face of the seat pad, and the engaging member is engaged with the engaging portion in a state of being folded back to the rear face of the seat pad. Therefore, the portion of engaging the seat pad and the seat main body can be covered to conceal by the seat pad, and therefore, an outlook of the seat can be made to be excellent. At this occasion, when pluralities of pieces of the engaging members and the engaging portions are provided, the seat pad can firmly be fixed to the seat main body. Further, when a pair of the engaging portion and the engaging member is arranged at a position diagonal to or a position opposed to at least other pair of the engaging portion and the engaging member in a region of a plane shape of the seat pad, loads of fixing the seat pad from a peripheral direction can be made to be uniform, and therefore, the seat pad can be mounted to fix to the seat main body without floating up or wrinkling a portion of the seat pad, and the outlook and the seating comfort are not deteriorated.
When the width dimension in the left and right direction of the locking piece is made to be larger than at least the interval between the two coupling portions of the strip member coupled to the seat main body, that is, the width dimension in the left and right direction of the inserting hole, by catching the both ends of the engaging member inserted to the inserting hole by the coupling portion of the strip member, the engaging member can be hampered from being drawn to detach. Therefore, it is not necessary to form the locking piece by a special shape of, for example, a shape of a hook, and therefore, the thickness can be thinned. Thereby, even when engaged by the rear face of the seat pad, the seat pad is not bulged and the outlook of the seat is not deteriorated. Also by such a simple constitution, the locking piece once inserted to be locked is not unpreparedly drawn to detach from the engaging portion, and therefore, the seat pad can easily and firmly be mounted to the seat main body.
Also by constituting the engaging portion by the slit notched to be formed in the shape of the groove and inserting the engaging member to be fitted to the slit, the seat pad can easily and firmly be mounted to the seat main body. At this occasion, when the slit is formed in line with a portion of the outer shape of the seat pad, the seat pad can be fixed to the seat efficiently and with an excellent outlook.
When the attaching means for making the seat pad in line with the surface shape of the seat is provided, the recessed and projected shape of the seat can firmly be realized by the flat seat pad without providing the recessed and projected shape at the seat pad per se.
When the snap button is used as the attaching means, attachment of the seat pad and the seat is simple. When the button on the side of the seat pad is provided by way of the flexible fabric member in the strip-like shape, the button can be made to be adapted precisely to the position of arranging the button on the side of the seat main body. In this case, although the seat pad is provided with the attaching means including the fabric member and the snap button in addition to the engaging member, also the attaching means is arranged at the center in the thickness direction of the seat pad, and therefore, the reversible function of the seat pad is not hampered. Further, the fabric member for the snap button is provided with a stretchability, by attaching the fabric member by the snap button in the extended state, a state of urging an urge force always to the side of the seat main body to the core member embedded in the seat back can be constituted, and a performance of following the surface shape of the seat main body of the seat pad can be promoted.